The Red Comet

Memories

The Fallen Star

Chapter 1 - Memories

It was a dark starless night; the pale full moon was struggling to shine its light through the thick clouds. The dust had already begun to settle as the earth's rumbling slowly came to a stop. Remnants of the comet could still faintly be seen, a red streak burned in the sky leading down into the earth. The air turned humid as the recent rains dissolved into steam due to the intense heat radiating from the area of impact.

It was this sudden humidity that finally woke her.

Tava woke gasping, retching she tried again. Sucking down the air as if she had just emerged from being hours under water.

Getting to her feet, the first thing she noticed was her bow in her left hand, the second, she was fully clothed in her travelling gear and thirdly, she was no longer in her room at the inn.

Instinct taking hold, she drew an arrow, crouched low and looked around at her surroundings. She had been lying in the middle of a grassy field not far from a cobbled road, worn away and overgrown with weeds.
Above her loomed the towering Monastery of old Trixam - the once magnificent keep atop the hill that had housed the religious Order of the Light, the Prophet and eventually became the seat of power for the self-proclaimed king and his heirs for many years until the great fall. That was shy on twenty years ago thought Tava, recalling her father lectures, since then it has stood abandoned and broken and deemed a gathering place for evil.

She turned and beneath the hill before her, the town could be seen. A few lights still flickered in windows here and there and a dog could be heard barking faintly but otherwise all was quiet. Relaxing she returned the arrow to her quiver. Strangely she did not feel too unsettled to find herself upon the hill. Tava did not know how she came to be there but had somehow known that, at some point in her return, she would be standing in this place again.

Stifling a yawn, she glanced up at the night sky as the moon appeared from behind the clouds.

"So dawns another chapter" Tava thought stretching. "And we are off to a grand start for the new" Now at eight and ten years she stood tall for a woman. Her slender figure, long legs and ample breasts brought her many an admirer, young and old. She grimaced and knuckled the sleep from her eyes as her pale skin glowed softly in the moonlight. Lifting her face she let herself soak in the light. Many were fooled by her soft jaw line and the faint freckles surrounding the bridge of her modest nose. Others noted her dominant chin and the hard edges of her lips. But most agreed it was her large dark green eyes where they found themselves lost.

Tava shook out her long dark hair. It was damp and matted to the side of her face where her head had rested in the grass. Brushing her fingers through she tried to recall her dream. She had thought there had been a fire but sleep still had hold for her to think straight and she could feel the beginning of an intense headache pounding within her skull. She gave up and instead looked down at the town.

It has not changed that much Tava thought as memories she thought forgotten returned unbidden. She could remember playing 'troll under the bridge' with the barn boy - Thomas she recalled his name. There was the tree they had hid in as they spied on the giant camped just outside town. And how had she forgotten the time she had distracted Kim the baker, as Thomas snuck in through the back window and swiped a handful of freshly baked cherry tarts. They had later enjoyed the sweets by the pond she recalled, the same pond her father used to take her to teach her how to fish.

Tava shook her head to rid herself of the memories piling in. She didn't want to think about fishing, the giant, Kim the baker or the cherry tarts. She most definitely didn't want to think about Thomas the barn boy or her Father.